Island Infernos

Starred review from September 20, 2021
Historian McManus follows Fortitude and Fire with an outstanding second volume in his planned trilogy on the Pacific theater of WWII. Covering the period from the invasion of the Marshall Islands in January 1944 to Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s premature declaration of victory at the Battle of Leyte in December 1944, McManus’s extensive cast of characters includes commanders, officers, enlisted men, and captured soldiers toiling in Japan’s horrendous POW camps. He delves into each island invasion in scrupulous detail, documenting, for instance, how the Army Air Force bombed Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands for seven weeks to prepare for the amphibious assault, which nevertheless devolved into an “incremental slugfest” as outnumbered Japanese soldiers fought ferociously from pillboxes, entrenchments, and the ruins of bombed-out buildings. McManus sheds light on famous battles (Bougainville, Corregidor) as well as lesser-known affairs (Sanananda, Attu), and incisively profiles U.S. military commanders including MacArthur, a brilliant strategist and courageous leader who was also “a man of astonishing pomposity, megalomania and egocentrism.” Distinguished by informative deep dives into logistical and strategic issues and McManus’s storytelling prowess, this is an excellent study of how the U.S. turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. Agent: Michael Congdon, Don Congdon Assoc.

November 1, 2021

Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History, McManus's Fire and Fortitude chronicled the U.S. Army's sacrifices in the Pacific War over the two years from the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the capture of Makin Island. Here he continues the story with the army proceeding to Saipan, Guam, and Okinawa, then finally regaining control of the Philippines in one of the war's costliest battles.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2021
The second of the author's three-volume chronicle of the war against Japan is well worth the wait. McManus reminds readers that the Marines got the glory, but the vastly larger Army did most of the fighting and demonstrated no less heroism. In fact, he writes, "the Army in the Pacific had matured into a professionally led citizen soldier force of singular potency, flexibility, and complexity." As in Fire and Fortitude (2019) and his other books, McManus delivers a lucid account of the political background, strategy, and leading figures who conducted operations. Journalists and civilian scholars cannot resist fawning over flamboyant generals, but McManus maintains his focus on their actual accomplishments. This means that his opinion of Douglas MacArthur hasn't improved from his earlier volume; in these pages, he remains a mean-spirited egotist with modest talents. Meanwhile, Marine Gen. Holland "Howlin-Mad" Smith conducted combined operations despite an intense hatred of the Army, a situation that severely hampered the tactical effectiveness. It's no secret that Army-Navy relations were so dysfunctional that America fought Japan on two separate fronts. Under MacArthur, the Army campaigned in the southwest Pacific, while the Navy, led by Adm. Charles Nimitz, largely patrolled the central Pacific. No one considered this efficient, but the U.S., with its vast resources, could afford it. McManus' expertise shines brightest in his gripping descriptions of the tactics, technology, personalities, and gruesome fighting in a score of island campaigns. There is no shortage of eye-opening personal stories, and the author includes generous material from letters and diaries--although readers may prefer to skim some anecdotes due to the horrendous sameness of the innumerable, bloody small-unit encounters. Keeping matters up to date, McManus emphasizes the racism that permeated the U.S. military but also governed soldiers' attitudes toward the enemy. There is plenty to deplore, but Japanese soldiers' seemingly suicidal fanaticism and their nation's cruelty toward Allied POWs did not encourage tolerance. Outstanding military history.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.